What do people do to their prints to keep them from becoming brittle? Paint?

3D Printing
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1

What do people do to their prints to keep them from becoming brittle? Paint? Nothing?

I was fiddling with a little trinket I printed a few months ago and it broke. Made me realize that PLA gets brittle with moisture/age. Then I started thinking about all the upgrades to my printer that are made from PLA.

Should I be concerned?
Going forward, if printing something that is meant to have a long(er) life expectancy, how should I treat the plastic to prevent/reduce moisture absorbsion?

2

Thats simple, i don’t print anything i need longterm in PLA. I use ABS, PETG or Nylon for this.

3

I agree with @Bjorn_Marl . If you are concerned about longevity and part reliabilty over time, you should print the part in the material that fits your use. PETG is pretty awesome and I use it for most of my important jobs. I think i have seen some people use a spray enable or some epoxy/juice to smooth out the layers and also add some extra strength. But you are really better off using a more rohbust filament for your heavy duty parts.

4

XTC3D and then paint. If I want it to be super solid, I cast it from the print.

5

Yep, you simply shouldn’t use PLA for anything that needs to withstand any kind of long-term loads, or any kind of heat ever.

6

What I love about XTC3D is that it is a resin, makes a hard smooth coat on the surfaces of my parts and so long as the part is not out in the elements (sun, rain, heat), it does just fine for medium duty tasks. Even ABS is something I coat if I want it to take a beating. I guess it depends on what sort of punishment you are putting your parts through without any post fabrication treatment, how solid the part is and what it is exposed to (heat, chemicals, water flow, UV). In my case, the answer is always: it depends.